Monthly Archives: October 2012

Millions of people in United States awoke to flooded homes, fallen trees and widespread power outages caused by the giant storm Sandy, which swamped New York City’s subway system and submerged streets in Manhattan’s financial district. More than one million people in a dozen states were under orders to evacuate as the massive system plowed westward. Subways and bridges were shut down as winds howled over a huge region encompassing hundreds of miles. Thousands of flights got cancelled ,hundreds of roads were flooded.

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Windows 8 is the current release of the Windows operating system, produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablets, and home theater PCs. Development of Windows 8 started before the release of its predecessor in 2009. Its existence was first announced at CES 2011, and followed by the release of three pre-release versions from September 2011 to May 2012. The operating system was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, and was released for general availability on October 26, 2012.

Windows 8 introduces significant changes to the operating system’s platform, primarily focused towards improving its experience on mobile devices such as tablets to rival other mobile operating systems (such as Android and iOS), taking advantage of new and emerging technologies (such as USB 3.0, UEFI firmware, near field communications, cloud computing, and the low-power ARM architecture), new security features (such as malware filtering, built-in antivirus software, and support for secure boot, a controversial UEFI feature which requires operating systems to be digitally signed to prevent malware from infecting the boot process), along with other changes and performance improvements.

Windows 8 also introduces a new shell and user interface based off Microsoft’s “Metro” design language, featuring a new Start screen with a grid of dynamically updating tiles to represent applications, a new app platform with an emphasis on touch screen input, the new Windows Store to obtain and purchase applications for the system, and the ability to synchronize programs and settings between multiple devices.

New Features of Windows 8New features and functionality in Windows 8 include a faster startup through UEFI integration and the new “Hybrid Boot” mode (which hibernates the Windows kernel on shutdown to speed up the subsequent boot), a new lock screen with a clock and notifications, and the ability for enterprise users to create live USB versions of Windows (known as Windows To Go). Windows 8 also adds native support for USB 3.0 devices, which allow for faster data transfers and improved power management with compatible devices, along with support for near field communication to facilitate sharing and communication between devices.

Windows Explorer renamed as File Explorer, File operation dialogs have been updated to provide more detailed statistics, the ability to pause file transfers, and improvements in the ability to manage conflicts when copying files. A new “File History” function allows incremental revisions of files to be backed up to and restored from a secondary storage device, while Storage Spaces allows users to combine different sized hard disks into virtual drives and specify mirroring, parity, or no redundancy on a folder-by-folder basis.

Task Manager has also been redesigned, including a new processes tab with the option to display fewer or more details of running applications and background processes, a heat map using different colors indicating the level of resource usage, network and disk counters, grouping by process type (e.g. applications, background processes and Windows processes), friendly names for processes and a new option which allows to search the web to find information about obscure processes. Additionally, the Blue Screen of Death has been updated with a simpler and modern design with less technical information displayed.

More Safety and Security Features: Additional Security features are introduced, Windows defender, smart Screen filtering and much more options available.

Online services and functionality: Windows 8 provides heavier integration with online services from Microsoft and others. A user can now log in to Windows with a Microsoft account, formally known as a Windows Live ID, which can be used to access services and synchronize applications and settings between devices.

Windows Store and Apps: A music app for Windows 8, shown snapped like a sidebar to the Windows Desktop. Windows 8 introduces a new style of application, Windows Store apps; according to Microsoft developer Jensen Harris, these apps are to be optimized for touch screen environments and have smaller scope in relation to desktop applications. Apps can run either in a full-screen mode, or be docked directly to the side of a screen.

Interface and desktop: Windows 8 introduces significant changes to the operating system’s user interface, many of which are centered towards improving its experience on tablet computers and other touch screen devices.

Secure boot: Windows 8 supports a feature of the UEFI specification known as “Secure boot”, which uses a public-key infrastructure to verify the integrity of the operating system and prevent unauthorized programs such as boot kits from infecting the device.

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When you’re hanging out with your friends on social networking sites, it’s easy to forget that what you say and share might not just stay between friends coz of excitement and fun. Social media is all about transparency, sharing and being your organic authentic self.

Thirty-five percent of adults on the Internet now have a profile on at least one social networking site, and 51 percent have more than one. Three-quarters of users between the ages of 18 and 24 have an online profile. The Pew Research Center found that 89 percent of these people use the sites to keep up with friends, 57 percent to make plans with friends and 49 percent to make new friends. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendster, Twitter and some other local networks are just a few of more than 100 Web sites connecting folks around the world who are eager to share their thoughts and feelings. But just like in real life, there’s such a thing as sharing too much information. It’s easy to get caught up in the social aspects of sites like Facebook, but what you choose to share is there for all to see if you don’t limit who can view your information.

There are few things which really need to be restricted to safeguard your personality. Some things you should probably just keep to yourself.

1. Contact Information: Let only your beloved ones and friends whom you can trust only know your contact information like your address, tele numbers, mails etc. This is very genuine information so this needs to restrict only to your circle.

2. Credit Card / Debit Card / other Money Making pictures: People do have the habit of sharing, when they get something new to their life, Cars – houses – jeweler’s looks fine, but sometime in the excitement people tend to share pic’s of their credit cards, Debit cards etc showing it off on Instagram is like posting Identity theft porn.

3. An invitation to “please rob me”: Letting the 1/6 of the human population of this planet that is on Facebook know that you’re in Mexico this week while that brand new 60” TV that you posted about last week is home all alone is an invitation to “please rob me”. So one needs to be careful about such things, before posting any new things, do give a thought on your weekend plans or tours, think and then post if you think without your presence if they are secured.

4. Password: Nobody on this world dares to post his password, but sometimes a friend might pull you to such an extent where situation might ask you to do so, you might share a hints, keywords, suggestions, tricks. Such things always need to be avoided. This one should be at the top of the no-brainer pile. If your password is the name of your cat that has his own Facebook account with 2,652 friends, then you either need to change your password or your cat.

5. Personal Conversations: On Facebook, users can send personal messages or post notes, images or videos to another user’s wall. The wall is there for all to see, while messages are between the sender and the receiver, just like an e-mail. Personal and private matters should never be shared on your wall. You wouldn’t go around with a bullhorn announcing a private issue to the world, and the same thing goes on the Internet. This falls under the nebulous world of social networking etiquette. There is no official handbook for this sort of thing, but use your best judgment. If it’s not something you’d feel comfortable sharing in person with extended family, acquaintances, work colleagues or strangers, then you shouldn’t share it on your Facebook wall.

6. Social Plans: Sharing your social plans for everybody to see isn’t a good idea. Unless you’re planning for a big party and inviting all the users you’re connected to, it will only make your other friends feel left out. There are also some security issues at stake here. Imagine a situation where a jealous ex-boyfriend or girlfriend knows that you’re meeting a new date out that night. What’s to keep the ex from showing up and causing a scene or even potentially getting upset or violent? Nothing, that’s what. If you’re planning a party or an outing with a group of friends, send a personal “e-vite” for their eyes only and nobody is the wiser. If you’re trying to cast a wide net by throwing out an idea for a social outing, just remember that anyone who has access to your profile sees it.

7. Photos of Your Kids and Family members: Social networking sites are a common place for people to share pictures of their families, but if you’re one of the 40 percent of users who don’t restrict access to your profile, then those pictures are there for everyone to see. It’s a sad fact, but there are a lot of predators who use the Internet to stalk their prey. If you post pictures of your family and information’s such as “Leaving for Party” “Someone is out of town” “your kid is alone at home” ” You are alone at home” such updates of your pics could out your life and your kids life at risk. Nobody ever thinks it will happen to them until it does, so safety first is a good default mode when using social networking sites. Just like with other private matters, send family photos only to a select group of trusted friends and colleagues who you know won’t share them. If someone uses Social Networking, he / she should need to make sure that his information is accessible only to those who are allowed not for others or public. Most of the people these days when they open their accounts on social network sites, they forget to utilize the safety options provided by the sites and put themselves in bad situations, so one needs to be very careful when they are sharing their pics, information and updates on social sites, use appropriate security methodologies provided with safeguard everyone from misuse.

8. Anything You Don’t Want Shared: You can select all the privacy settings you want on social networking sites, but the fact is, if you post it, it has the potential to be seen by someone you don’t want seeing it. You know all those fun Facebook applications, quizzes and polls you can’t help but fill out? A study performed by the University of Virginia found that of the top 150 applications on Facebook, 90 percent were given access to information they didn’t need in order for the app to function. So when you sign up to find out what sitcom star you most identify with, the makers of that poll now have access to your personal information. It’s anybody’s guess where it goes from there. Social networking is all about sharing, so something you think is in confidence can easily be shared and then shared again, and before you know it, someone you don’t even know has access to something private. “When in doubt, leave it out” is a good motto to follow. And always remember that anything you share has the potential to be leaked in some way.

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What is a Blog Actually?A blog is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries (“posts”) typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often were themed on a single subject. More recently “multi-author blogs” (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, interest groups and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other “micro blogging” systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into societal new streams. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

The emergence and growth of blogs in the late 1990s coincided with the advent of web publishing tools that facilitated the posting of content by non-technical users. (Previously, a knowledge of such technologies as HTML and FTP had been required to publish content on the Web.)

Although not a requirement, most good quality blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via GUI widgets on the blogs, and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking. Indeed, bloggers do not only produce content to post on their blogs, but also build social relations with their readers and other bloggers.

Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries; others function more as online brand advertising of a particular individual or company. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important contribution to the popularity of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blogs), photographs (photoblogs), videos (video blogs or “vlogs”), music (MP3 blogs), and audio (podcasts). Micro blogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts. In education, blogs can be used as instructional resources. These blogs are referred to as edublogs.

What are the Minimum Basic Elements required for Blog?
Dates: Dates are a big giveaway. By definition a blog is a journal, and by convention it is a journal organized by posting date. No other type of web site places such strong emphasis on when content was created. As such, seeing a date is usually a good indicator that you are reading either a blog or a journal/newsletter.

Comment counts: Comments and suggestions in the form of feedback , keeps a blog live. A blog should need to have a section for comments and suggestions , which will help in improving the quality content of the blog. The other major aspect of blogging is the community behind it. A blog with comments disabled is barely a blog at all and as such, seeing the customary “x comments” text near the post title or succeeding the post itself is a sure sign of blogs abound.

Author names: Who is writing the content, it might be you, a guest writer, a famous personality, it can be anyone who can contribute. A good blog tends to be regularly updated, and shares some of the personality of the author. Many blogs therefore include the author’s name along with each post. Of course, it’s not always necessary.

RSS icons and counters: Have a look in your RSS reader. How many of the feeds that you’re subscribed to are from blogs? A good number I’d say, and so it is with good reason that large RSS icons and FeedBurner buttons can safely be attributed as aspects of a blog design.

Right sidebar: This is optional though, but this design style is more of a stereotype than a reasoned element of a blog design. Any type of web site can have a right sidebar, and blogs can of course have left/no sidebars. However, there is still some truth left in the old stereotype. If you had to picture the typical 2-column blog layout, which side would the sidebar be on?

Date-based archives: Date based archives are a useless accessory for most blogs. However, when they are seen they are a guaranteed sign of a blog. Blogs began as online diaries, giving rise to the popularity of browsing blogs by date. As blogs have evolved though, such archives have grown superfluous and are less commonly seen now.

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The challenge of growing a small or big business often frightens some entrepreneurs. Avoiding some common sales mistakes will tend toward boosting the performance of your business. As per the latest survey, learning sales skills take place in many ways. Most often, we introduce something new or we learn by imitating a best practice, step-by-step.

Sometimes, however, we can make the most progress just by learning to avoid mistakes. That’s especially true when it comes to sales performance. Everyone has something to gain from correcting errors — even veteran sales-people, who often and without realizing it fall into habits that are detrimental to their success.

Starting in sales can be a pretty tough road – it takes technique and a bit of finesse to win over your customers and seal the deal. Below are some sales mistakes which an entrepreneur must avoid in his small business, according to experts:

Clarify the doubts of customer: Preemptively explaining questions or objections your customer may not have. It’s definitely a great idea to anticipate customer questions, but you should not be the one to surface these doubts and objections.

Listening is important: Forgetting to listen. Listening to your customer is number one.

Selling your product: Selling the features rather than the results of the product. Consumers want to know exactly what your product will do for them – as in final result.

Don’t be a ‘Yes’ man for everything: Do you know what’s the biggest mistakes of sales you can make? It’s off-course saying or developing the habit of “yes” for everything. When a potential customer makes a request, you’re naturally going to want to say “yes” and let’s do it. And once you say yes a few times after , you might realize that you are walking on a slippery slope because the customer will keep on making requests and each one will not only cost you money, but it will let the customer know that they can be demanding and walk all over you. At times we’d just say “we’ll see what we can do” but certainly did nothing! If you can do what a customer wants and it is profitable for you, say yes. If the request is unreasonable, say no. By setting this precedent early on, you’ll have more happiness for yourself, company and always can see a happy customer.

Offering too much information might switch off: The more information you offer to people, the more likely they will get confused. Restrict the information to the situation and need. When people get confused its natural they won’t approach you and cannot become your customer. Learn to get your message out in a quick and short way as it will be easier to understand. Trying to look smart by using sophisticated language or talking in technical jargon is just dumb. When pitching customers, make sure you only tell them what they need and want to know. Most of the times it is found that when you tell them more than they want to know by trying to throw in something that’s mind blowing, sometimes you’ll increase the likelihood of closing the deal, but in most cases you’ll just bore them to death. People have short attention spans, so be careful about dragging things on. Just address their pain points by talking about what you’re offering is beneficial to them (your prospect) and finally do not forget to ask for a sale! Always approach the client from a ‘what’s in it for them’ angle, get them to the edge and finally offer them a solution!

Over selling the product is always dangerous: Similar to offering potential customers too much information, you shouldn’t try to over sell product by trying to give strong impression of the product. Let’s say let’s not become too pushy it’s a big turn off. You have to think of sales like dating a girlfriend. Don’t stoop so low, because you end up looking desperate and shoddy, no one will be attracted to you! You have to be very casual with your sales techniques and really act like you don’t care to make the sale. Because at the end of the day, if your product or service is that good, the person you are selling to should be privileged to use it. If you are one of those people who want to be a bit pushy instead of just waiting things out, you can always create a sense of urgency to close the deal… plus it won’t seem like you are overselling. Secondly do not sound like you are just after the cheque alone, seek to build relationships, don’t focus too much on that one transaction!

On time Sales and delivery: If your product or service isn’t ready, you’ll have a tendency to not sell until it’s ready. The big problem with this is that you can’t predict when things are going to be ready! You don’t have to give your customers your product or service right now, you can give them access to it in the future. And by having them sign up right now, you can always give them a discount to entice them. Or what I like doing is to close the sale ahead of time and tell companies how there is a 30 to 60 day implementation time frame as this buys me time. This works really well in a service oriented business. Start selling a conference or a training 3 to 6 months prior as you plan for it

Don’t push sales by on past sales experience: After you close a deal, you need to learn to stop talking. Learn to keep your mouth shut after someone tells you they want to be a customer. If you can’t, this is the best time to chitchat about random subjects like sports, music or the Nairobi traffic; kindly note that your views on politics, religion and such subjects could also cost you the SALE!

You just don’t have to be a good sales person to close a deal, try to avoid the possible mistakes which can ruin you and your business or company. If you can do that, you’ll start to close more deals and make more money. So don’t focus your time on trying to become an exceptionally great sales person, just focus on avoiding the common pitfalls.

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Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest, these are considered as main platforms by many social media experts, who claim these can be the linchpin in developing your online presence. Off course they all are useful marketing tools, there’s another social network that can be more effective in generating leads and sales and yes that is LinkedIn.

While your competitors are busy spinning their wheels getting “likes” on Facebook and sending a barrage of tweets on Twitter, you can use different tactics on LinkedIn to build an online presence and generate profitable prospects.

Here Few Tips which can Boost up your Lead Generation through LinkedIn

LinkedIn Profile optimization: Profiles with no pics and different are always of less impression, its always good to have your own pic for the profile, that creates good impression of you when a third person visits your profile for some information about you. One of the easiest way is to update your profile picture. LinkedIn views this as a kind of freshness and it helps your ranking when others are searching for someone of your information based on a skill.

Tell people who you are, who you help and how you help them in your headline: A headline that communicates these points is often what grabs a person’s attention when searching the site. I should be able to read your headline and know exactly what you offer and why I should get in touch with you. Be clear and compelling.

Work Experience in Profile: Update your all experience in your profile, even a six month experience needs to be updated it gives a clear understanding about your experience and your loyalty to others about you. You never know who’s looking for you, possibly a co-worker from an old job, or maybe a classmate that’s suddenly feeling nostalgic and wants to see who they can find online. By listing all of your places of employment — including your educational institutions — you can create a larger net for capturing searches. Plus, these connections could be second- or third-tier connections to people you’ve been trying to meet.

Join targeted groups: Joining all groups is always not a good practice of increasing your network, join only those groups of your skills and background. This can be one of the most effective ways to connect with like-minded professionals who are serious about using LinkedIn to form deeper business connections. Participating in these groups also enables you to share your knowledge and to learn from other members.

Create a targeted group: Not only can leading a group give you a certain level of credibility, it allows you to connect with people who are influential within your specific industry.

Send personal invites: Never ignore any invitation which is asking you to connect with them, coz never no who is looking for you, These, in my opinion, always trump generic requests to connect. The invite is your first communication on LinkedIn, so make a good first impression by writing a personal request and asking how you can help the person, or whom you can introduce them to.

Get endorsements and recommendations: Recommendations and Endorsement of your skills and work is very important, this shows your expertise knowledge and impressive work in organizations you worked for. Always ask your CEO’s, managers, and your friends to give recommendations and endorsement of your work done in their organizations. This can help enhance your profile, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do this. Don’t send a mass or generic e-mail to clients or colleagues asking if they can endorse your skills or write a recommendation. First, identify people who have a great story to share about you and your skills. Contact those people directly, via phone or e-mail, and let them know you’re personally reaching out to them because of (insert how you’ve helped them here) and would appreciate it if they’d be willing to write a quick recommendation for you, based on that story.

The same goes for endorsements, which are much easier to give since it’s just a click of a button. It also helps if you mention you’ll be endorsing their strongest skills as well.

Apart from the above what are the ways you all prefer to grow your network on LinkedIn please do share with us in the form of comments.

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LinkedIn is a social networking website for people in professional occupations. Founded in December 2002 and launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of June 2012, LinkedIn reports more than 175 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Romanian, Russian language, Turkish language, Japanese language, Czech, Polish, Korean, Indonesian, and Malay. Quant cast reports LinkedIn has 21.4 million monthly unique U.S. visitors and 47.6 million globally. In June 2011, LinkedIn had 33.9 million unique visitors, up 63 percent from a year earlier and surpassing MySpace. LinkedIn filed for an initial public offering in January 2011 and traded its first shares on May 19, 2011, under the NYSE symbol “LNKD”.

Features:One purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people with whom they have some level of relationship, called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection. However, if the invitee selects “I don’t know” or “Spam”, this counts against the inviter. If the inviter gets too many of such responses, the account may be restricted or closed.

This list of connections can then be used in a number of ways:

A contact network is built up consisting of their direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second-degree connections) and also the connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree connections). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a mutual contact.

Users can upload their resume or design their own profile in order to showcase work and community experiences.

It can then be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one’s contact network.

Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates.

Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

Users can post their own photos and view photos of others to aid in identification.

Users can now follow different companies and can get notification about the new joining and offers available.

Users can save (i.e. bookmark) jobs which they would like to apply for.

The “gated-access approach” (where contact with any professional requires either an existing relationship, or the intervention of a contact of theirs) is intended to build trust among the service’s users. LinkedIn participates in the EU’s International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles. The feature LinkedIn Answers, similar to Yahoo! Answers, allows users to ask questions for the community to answer. This feature is free, and the main difference from the latter is that questions are potentially more business-oriented, and the identity of the people asking and answering questions is known. Another LinkedIn feature is LinkedIn Polls. In December 2011, LinkedIn announced that they are rolling out polls to their one million groups. In mid-2008, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Direct Ads as a form of sponsored advertising. In October 2008, LinkedIn revealed plans to opening its social network of 30 million professionals globally as a potential sample for business-to-business research. It is testing a potential social-network revenue model-research that to some appears more promising than advertising.

How to use LinkedInIt’s quick and easy to get started using LinkedIn. You’ll need to sign up for LinkedIn and create a Linkedin profile. Then you’ll be able to start using LinkedIn to connect, to network, and to job search and boost your career. Here’s how to use LinkedIn.

Linked Profile: One of the most important parts of LinkedIn is your profile. That’s what you use to connect with people in your network and your profile is how you get found on LinkedIn, because it contains information about your skills and experience. LinkedIn profile can increase your visibility online and help you build your professional brand that showcases your background to prospective employers.

Search LinkedIn: Take a few minutes to search LinkedIn and I’m sure you’ll find lots of contacts from your current and prior employers, clients, vendors, and schools. All those contacts have the potential to help you grow your career or find a new job. In addition, it can be a good source of employment references, as well as reference checking.

Job Search: You can search the Jobs section of LinkedIn by keyword, company name, job title and location or use the Advanced Search option to search by more specific criteria.

Connecting with Professionals: LinkedIn let you connect with many professionals. Its always good to grow your net work on LinkedIn which helps everyone to connect with people and industry professionals, joining the groups of your skills will help you to find professionals.

LinkedIn Company Profiles: LinkedIn company profiles are a good way to find, at glance, more information on a company you’re interested in. You’ll be able see your connections at the company, new hires, promotions, jobs posted, related companies, and company statistics.

LinkedIn Mobile: LinkedIn Mobile features include searching and viewing profiles, inviting new connections, access to LinkedIn answers, and actionable network updates. Use it to keep your job search moving forward when you’re on the road.